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Review: 'Blood Car'

Looking for alternative fuels? This one will cost an arm and a leg, but not necessarily yours.

Welcome to the future, possibly only two weeks from now, a world where nobody drives anymore because no one can afford to buy a gallon gasoline. Archie Andrews (Mike Brune) is a twenty-something guy trying to invent an engine that will run on wheatgrass, but makes an incredible discovery when he accidentally cuts himself and bleeds into the mixture… the engine will run on blood! After making adjustments to his car, Archie gains the attention of the sex-crazed girl he’s always wanted (instead of settling for the charms the wheatgrass girl that he seems oblivious to). As long as the car keeps running, Archie can have what he’s always wanted, but how long can he keep finding victims he can consciously fill the tank with while avoiding the government agents that have taken a serious interest in his invention?

The idea is simultaneously absurd and brilliant, implemented into a a story that’s too sick and twisted for any studio to touch. Taking the notion of literally trading blood for oil, the movie covers the needs of the common citizen as well as the lengths a government will go to keep society running. The low budget props and locations of convenience seem to serve the bleak view of the world that the story paints while at the same time getting laughs for how straight the players are treating the material. Still, no matter how clever or amusing the scene, situation, or character on screen is, the blood car itself remains a menace, a constant reminder that anyone may be the next sacrificial fuel to keep the engine of society running.

All that said, the film isn’t perfect. There’s opportunity to explore a few additional plot points to help pad the running time from the nearly 60 minutes of well-edited footage and story to a feature-length 80 minutes of longer. It’s easy to see where and when this happens, and the filmmakers admitted that this was even a portion of the film that they re-shot trying to find a way to make it work. My opinion would be to scrap that sequence and explore another issue before winding down to the clever ending that ties everything together nicely with a bow.

Blood Car is a fair representation of the state of independent film making today. With studios now the owners of nearly every indie film house while technology to let anyone make and edit films keeps getting less expensive, this film serves as another example of what a great idea and a little hard work can produce. Now, if we can just get these guys to build a truck that runs on sweat and tears, we’ll be in business. Check out http://fakewoodwallpaper.com/ to get the film or read more about it.